Why Would Abigail Adams not be written about a lot in a history textbook?

I'm doing a 'book review' and I have to compare/contrast the book and my history textbook. My teacher said if the person wasn't in the textbook that much to explain WHY they were ignored. Why would abigail adams or any other founding mother in that case be ignored in a modern history txtbook?Why Would Abigail Adams not be written about a lot in a history textbook?
All who have responded have given very good, solid reasons for Abigail's omission from history books. Most textbooks concentrate primarily on political and military accomplishments, and, let's face it, until modern times these were not considered the proper sphere of women.



Abigail Adams was unusually well-read for a woman of her time, and yet she tried to influence her husband in the traditional way--she rather coyly asked that he and the delegates in Philadelphia that summer of 1776 "Remember the ladies," hoping for some kind of legal equality.



At this time and place, a woman could do very little unless she was widowed. If unmarried, she was expected to be under her father's guardianship; if he were deceased, a brother or uncle was expected to take on that role. So, in effect, a woman was a perpetual child for most of her life, always under the rule of a father, husband, or some other male relative.



Widows, however, enjoyed a great deal of freedom; they could buy and sell land, sue in court, and just otherwise enjoy a deal of equality under the law, though still not nearly as much as their brothers.



So, while Abigail Adams at least spoke up for women, she's not really the proto-feminist many have tried to make her. In fact, one of her main reasons for speaking out against the shortage of educational opportunities for her sex was that she felt that educated women made better wives and mothers. She wasn't expecting women to go into law, medicine, or even education beyond the most basic things such as teaching children the barest rudiments: simple addition and subtraction, and how to read and write.



It's true that modern textbooks at least give a nod to women; when I taught North Carolina history, I was pleased to learn of women such as Penelope Barker, who led the women of Edenton, NC, in a boycott of British goods prior to the outbreak of hostilities.



Times change, but often slowly, and many historians are a conservative bunch who ignore social history and still concentrate on who fought whom, and where.
The answer your teacher is probably looking for is something like "history textbooks are sexist and therefore ignore the accomplishments of women."



In reality, it's probably because a school textbook can only include so much information, and women didn't really do that much important stuff. No offense. I'm female, but honestly, women had very little influence on politics back then.Why Would Abigail Adams not be written about a lot in a history textbook?
A lot of the older books took the old view that women were insignificant figures in history and not worth mentioning. That is especially wrong for Abagail Adams who was not only a strong presence in the Adams family but also related to John Hancock. If you get the right book her constant interactions and influence on the more-mentioned historical figures would be obvious.
In that time women stayed in the background and so were not much involved in historical events and thus ignored by history books. Today is no different. How much do you know about Nancy Pelosi's husband?Why Would Abigail Adams not be written about a lot in a history textbook?
Traditionally throughout history woman were not allowed to contribute and if they did, a male counterpart, such as a husband, was often awarded the credit. This is true of someone like Theodora, Emperor Justinian's wife.